Teaching slope of a line using the graphing calculator as a tool for discovery learning

Discovery learning is one of the instructional strategies sometimes used to teach Algebra I. However, little research is available that includes investigation of the effects of incorporating the graphing calculator technology with discovery learning. This study was initiated to investigate two instructional approaches for teaching slope of a line in Algebra I. One approach involves the graphing calculator as a tool in a discovery learning setting. The second approach involves using the graphing calculator to reinforce traditional instruction. An urban public school division located in southeastern Virginia was the site for this investigation. Two Algebra I classes from each of two middle schools and two Algebra I classes from each of three high schools were involved in this study. The experimental groups completed a discovery learning activity, while the control groups used traditional instruction. This study is an investigation of whether there was a difference in student achievement in slope of a line when one discovery learning activity was completed prior to formal instruction. It was concluded that student achievement did not increase with the inclusion of one discovery learning based activity. Further study is needed to evaluate if discovery learning is effective if utilized throughout the unit on slope of a line, if additional professional development focused on discovery learning is necessary, or if a series of discovery learning activities would increase student achievement

Open science and educational research: an editorial commentary

Educational technology as a broad and applied interdisciplinary research field faces challenges in achieving consensus on what constitutes good quality research. As the field is embedded in many other disciplines, considering what evidence matters and the optimal methodologies to conduct inquiry is continually evolving and maturing. Inhabiting a boundary between education, and computer science, and viewed through numerous theoretical lenses ranging from disciplines of sociology, politics, psychology, the learning systems, curriculum development, digital humanities, and beyond, the number of approaches contributing to the field is vast. The validity, trustworthiness and integrity of over two decades of research in this domain is continually questioned. Furthermore, as technology itself also changes, there are differing opinions on how best to explore and understand the role it plays in education. How we define, research and evaluate our evidence is central to our understanding of how we learn and how this is enhanced with and through technology in various ways. Whilst scholars continue to critique and debate the veracity of findings, educational technology journals play an important role in allowing us to collectively peer review, and publish the best quality research studies. Changes in the open access publishing world and in the open science movement have the potential to address some of shortfalls in how our understandings are evaluated, critiqued and judged in this domain

Evaluating the Use of Optical Coherence Tomography in Optic Neuritis

Optic neuritis (ON) is an inflammatory optic nerve injury, which is strongly associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Axonal damage in the optic nerve manifests as retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) deficits, which can be readily quantified with optical coherence tomography (OCT). The RNFL represents the most proximal region of the afferent visual pathway; and, as such, is a unique region of the central nervous system (CNS) because it lacks myelin. Changes in retinal integrity can be correlated with reliable and quantifiable visual outcomes to provide a structural-functional paradigm of CNS injury. Because the eye provides a unique “view” into the effects of CNS inflammation, the ON “system model” may provide greater understanding about disease mechanisms, which underpin disability in MS. This review addresses the applications of OCT in study of ON patients, with specific reference to the published reports to date. The future role of OCT is discussed, both in terms of the potential gains and certain challenges associated with this evolving technology

Transplantation of novel human GDF5-expressing CHO cells is neuroprotective in models of Parkinson's disease

Growth/differentiation factor 5 (GDF5) is a neurotrophic factor that promotes the survival of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in vitro and in vivo and as such is potentially useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). This study shows that a continuous supply of GDF5, produced by transplanted GDF5-overexpressing CHO cells in vivo, has neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects on midbrain dopaminergic neurons following 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced lesions of the adult rat nigrostriatal pathway. It also increases the survival and improves the function of transplanted embryonic dopaminergic neurons in the 6-OHDA-lesioned rat model of PD. This study provides the first proof-of-principle that sustained delivery of GDF5 in vivo may be useful in the treatment of PD

Time-Domain and Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in MS Patients and Healthy Controls

Objective. The aim of this study was to compare retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) between spectral-domain (SD-) and time-domain optical coherence tomography (TD-OCT) in MS patients and healthy controls (HC). Furthermore, RNFLT between MS eyes with and without optic neuritis (ON) and HC should be explored. Finally, the relationship between RNFLT, disease duration, EDSS, and disease modifying therapy (DMT) should be established. Design. Prospective, cross-sectional study. Participants. 28 MS patients and 35 HC. Methods. Both groups underwent TD- and SD-OCT measurements. RFNLT was correlated between the two machines and between MS eyes with and without ON and HC. Furthermore, RNFLT was correlated to disease duration, EDSS and DMT. Results. A strong correlation (Pearson's r = 0.921, P < 0.001), but a statistically significant difference of 2 μm (P < 0.001), was found between the two devices. RNFLT was significantly different between MS eyes with history of ON (mean RFNLT (SD) 72.21 μm (15.83 μm)), MS eyes without history of ON 93.03 μm (14.25 μm), and HC 99.07 μm (7.23 μm) (P < 0.001). Conclusions. The measurements between different generation of OCT machines are not interchangeable, which should be taken into account if comparing results between different machines and switching OCT machine in longitudinal studies

Editorial: Ireland’s online learning call

The editorial board of the Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL) would like to use this opportunity to thank each and every one of you working through a very challenging time over the past twelve months of the pandemic. It is a significant event, a critical incident, that will take some time to document and reflect upon in future journal editions. So many words have already been written about this past year that try to capture the disruption and change. However, to summarise even a scintilla of what has happened across Irish higher education is a slightly daunting prospect. We have seen various terms used to describe the rapid shift to teaching and learning online, such as milestone, pivot, emergency remote teaching. None of these fully encompass the myriad of ways that those of us working in education have had to become resilient, responsive, and supportive of colleagues during this period. Considering the response from members of the educational technology community within Ireland, one could argue that the term overwhelming is a good starting point. For a start, a tsunami of work ensued, that at times threatened to engulf individuals. Education ‘pivoted’ from a position where online was generally a supplementary or complementary activity to one where, in an online mode, we became the campus. Systems and processes were hastily altered, modified or expanded far beyond anybody’s expectations. While some of those have creaked and groaned, we have managed to teach classes, run meetings and carry out assessments; run on-campus labs and social distanced teaching; in short, we have kept going. People have been inventive, innovative and extremely hard working. But above all else, they have been generous; generous with their time, their expertise and generous in spirit

No effect of New Zealand blackcurrant extract on recovery of muscle damage following running a half-marathon

New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) contains anthocyanins, known to moderate blood flow and display anti-inflammatory properties that may improve recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage. The authors examined whether NZBC extract supplementation enhances recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage after a half-marathon race. Following a randomized, double-blind, independent groups design, 20 (eight women) recreational runners (age 30 ± 6 years, height 1.73 ± 0.74 m, body mass 68.5 ± 7.8 kg, half-marathon finishing time 1:56:33 ± 0:18:08 hr:min:s) ingested either two 300-mg/day capsules of NZBC extract (CurraNZ™) or a visually matched placebo, for 7 days prior to and 2 days following a half-marathon. Countermovement jump performance variables, urine interleukin-6, and perceived muscle soreness and fatigue were measured pre, post, and at 24 and 48 hr after the half-marathon and analyzed using a mixed linear model with statistical significance set a priori at p  .05). Urine interleukin-6 increased 48-hr post-half-marathon in the NZBC group only (p  .05). Perceived muscle soreness and fatigue increased immediately post-half-marathon (p  .05). Supplementation with NZBC extract had no effect on the recovery of countermovement jump variables and perceptions of muscle soreness or fatigue following a half-marathon in recreational runners

Symptoms in first degree relatives of patients with rheumatoid arthritis:evaluation of cross-sectional data from the symptoms in persons at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (SPARRA) questionnaire in the PRe-clinical EValuation of Novel Targets in RA (PREVeNT-RA) Cohort

Abstract Background First-degree relatives (FDRs) of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a fourfold increased risk of developing RA. The Symptoms in Persons At Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis (SPARRA) questionnaire was developed to document symptoms in persons at risk of RA. The aims of this study were (1) to describe symptoms in a cohort of FDRs of patients with RA overall and stratified by seropositivity and elevated CRP and (2) to determine if patient characteristics were associated with symptoms suggestive of RA. Methods A cross-sectional study of FDRs of patients with RA, in the PREVeNT-RA study, who completed a study questionnaire, provided a blood sample measured for rheumatoid factor, anti-CCP and CRP and completed the SPARRA questionnaire. Moderate/severe symptoms and symmetrical, small and large joint pain were identified and described. Symptoms associated with both seropositivity and elevated CRP were considered suggestive of RA. Logistic regression was used to determine if symptoms suggestive of RA were associated with patient characteristics. Results Eight hundred seventy participants provided all data, 43 (5%) were seropositive and 122 (14%) had elevated CRP. The most frequently reported symptoms were sleep disturbances (20.3%) and joint pain (17.9%). Symmetrical and small joint pain were 11.3% and 12.8% higher, respectively, in those who were seropositive and 11.5% and 10.7% higher in those with elevated CRP. In the logistic regression model, seropositivity, older age and feeling depressed were associated with increased odds of small and symmetrical joint pain. Conclusions This is the first time the SPARRA questionnaire has been applied in FDRs of patients with RA and has demonstrated that the presence of symmetrical and small joint pain in this group may be useful in identifying people at higher risk of developing RA

Editorial: There's an AI for that

In recent months, the educators and higher education institutions have responded with concern, critique, and hope, to the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI)’s unregulated and mounting influence. Following the period of emergency remote teaching, and the great ‘snapback’ (Jandrić et al., 2022), yet another new concern has emerged, promising to revolutionise education, or threaten its existence. The gravity of the situation has reverberated across the system, as wizardry of predictive pattern recognition fundamentally threatens the validity of long-held practices of summative assessments including essays, and online quizzes. This latest quandary/crisis shows no sign of abating, as venture capitalist funding and language modelling datasets grow. The technology becomes more deeply integrated into word processing, and cloud-based applications through which much of our academic labour is conducted. Understanding and conceptualising new technology within education has long been a necessity, as we wrestle with wrangling tools into our human interactions. Higher education’s relationship with edtech has always been characterised by a cyclical response to disruptive external influences of evolving technology, whose recent developments are often underpinned by neoliberal values of competition, efficiency, market-based solutions, and the privatisation of software platforms. Recent large language model developments are proving no different, with deregulation and the free market serving as the impetus to design and create such tools. Across higher education, educators scramble to decode the GenAI black box, deciphering hallucinations, confabulations, and smooth outputs indistinguishable from original student work. Policy responses range along a continuum of ban or embrace. New AI literacies are being woven into curricula, as change continues apace. 2023 marks a year of existential crisis precipitated by a global pandemic, followed by geopolitical events and a fatigue from the continual adaptation to a new normal. Even within, we are constantly shaping our educational systems. That pull is in many different directions – to accredit, to certify, to help learners become, to socialise, to emancipate, to measure - to meet very diverse purposes and aims. The politics and power structures inherent in our system further affect our response (Kuhn et al., 2023).  While the potential of AI chatbots based on natural language processing models is undeniable, it is crucial to discern the reality from the hype and to better understand how our actions and responses are shaping our educational systems in this evolving domain. This editorial examines this dilemma further, to consider the impact on our scholarship of teaching and learning and how we as a community of researchers and educators respond

Objective Assessment of Adherence to Inhalers by COPD Patients.

RATIONALE: Objective adherence to inhaled therapy by patients with COPD has not been reported. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to objectively quantify adherence to preventer DiskusTM inhaler therapy by patients with COPD with an electronic audio recording device (INCATM). METHODS: This was a prospective observational study. On discharge from hospital patients were given a salmeterol/fluticasone inhaler with an INCATM device attached. Analysis of this audio quantified the frequency and proficiency of inhaler use. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: COPD patients (n=265) were recruited. The mean age 71 years, mean Forced Expiratory Volume in 1-second 1.3 Litres, and 80% had evidence of mild/moderate cognitive impairment. By combining time of use, interval between doses and critical technique errors, thus incorporating both intentional and unintentional non-adherence, a measure \u22Actual Adherence\u22 was calculated. Mean Actual Adherence was 22.9% of that expected if the doses were taken correctly and on time. Seven percent had an Actual Adherence\u3e80%. Hierarchical clustering found three equally sized well-separated clusters corresponding to distinct patterns: Cluster 1 (34%) had low inhaler use and high error rates, Cluster 2 (31%) had high inhaler use and high error rates, and Cluster 3 (30%) had overall good adherence. Lung function and co-morbidities were predictive of poor technique, while age and cognition with poor lung function distinguished those with poor adherence and frequent errors in technique. CONCLUSION: These data may inform clinicians both in understanding why a prescribed inhaler is not effective and to devise strategies to promote adherence in COPD